Dear Members of the St Raphael's school community,

Welcome to Term Four.

We are looking forward to welcoming our Foundation and Year 1/2 children back to on-site school next week and have put in place a number of measures to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all students and staff.

As you would be aware, the Victorian Government has now detailed the return to on-site schooling for all children in metropolitan Melbourne. The following table details the dates for the return to school for all children in metropolitan Melbourne.

As we emerge from the current lockdown restrictions, I would like to outline some of the changes that will be put in place to protect everyone in our school community.

We acknowledge that the next few weeks will be quite disruptive and difficult for some parents who have children in multiple year levels and we ask for your patience and understanding during this time.

Commencing next week, Foundation children will return from Monday 18th October - Wednesday 20th October. Year 1/2 children will begin on Thursday 19th - Friday 20th October. Children of authorised workers from Foundation - Year 6 will still access on-site school and have their children supervised next week.

Due to the unpredictable and unknown nature of what may transpire in the coming weeks, the school leadership team have decided to focus on the next two weeks of transition back to school for the children. We will then address any further issues or directives when we see what transpires during this upcoming staggered return to school.

To ensure the safety of all, we have separated the school into two zones.

Zone 1 will be known as the main school building, and all children and school staff in Foundation - Year 2 will only be able to access this area. Entry and exit for these children will be via the Cooper Street gates. We appreciate that some people may feel that these pickup/ drop-off arrangements are an inconvenience. Still, we remind everyone to enjoy the need to separate our school community to keep everyone safe. At this stage, these arrangements will be temporary, and we ask for your patience and understanding. At this stage, we will continue with drop off between 8:30 am - 9 am and pick up for all students between 3:30 pm - 3:45 pm.

Zone 2 will be for the children of essential authorised workers who will be set up in the school hall and Art Room. Entry and exit for these children and supervising staff will be via the Breen Street gates with drop off between 8:30 am - 9 am and pick up between 3:30 pm - 3:45 pm.

At this stage, no parents or unauthorised visitors are allowed on the school grounds, and we ask for your support in maintaining social distancing and wearing masks at all times during drop off and pick up times. We are all aware of the virulent nature of this Delta variant, and these safety measures must be put in place to protect all members of the school community.

Several schools have had outbreaks, and all students, staff and parents have been forced to self-isolate for 14 days. After so much disruption this year and after enduring the latest ongoing restrictions, this is the last thing we want for our children and members of our school community.

Our School Advisory Board (SAB) met last night and discussed a number of issues around the safe return to on-site school for the children. As a result, our school leadership team have put strict hygiene protocols and procedures for the children and staff that we must all adhere to when they return.

The Royal Children's Hospital is hosting a free online information session for parents on Facebook on Thursday 14th October at 10 am. If you have questions about the safety and logistics of a COVID-safe return to school, then join experts in COVID-safe practices for children, mental health and educational development. https://t.co/4n1sIQ5RMC https://t.co/E9gxW4K5n8

Over the lockdown period, without the children on-site, there have been a number of groundworks completed to complement and realise the vision of our ongoing school landscape masterplan. The Victorian Government has recently announced a Shade Sails Funding program. The school has submitted an application to provide much-needed shade and shelter for the children in line with the Victorian Government's directions to provide more outdoor learning environments when they return.

We must also enable more ventilation with open doors and windows in the learning spaces and minimal access to heating and cooling devices in the coming months. This will undoubtedly cause some issues when the days are either extremely hot or cold. We ask for your support by ensuring that your children are adequately prepared for the elements (sun hats, coats, beanies, gloves). These newly redeveloped areas will enhance the outdoor learning environments for the children and provide great community gathering spaces when we can all reunite as a whole school community.

It will be a difficult time for all children and staff, and once again, we ask for your continued support as we navigate the uncertainty of the next few months.

As you may be aware, the Victorian Government has mandated that all school staff, including administration staff, must be fully vaccinated to be able to work in a school environment. I can assure you that all staff working on-site at St Raphael’s will have adhered to these guidelines.

Regarding the directive of the Victorian Chief Health Officer that all Year 3 -6 children must wear a mask when indoors.

The following extract is taken from the Victorian Government's Coronavirus website:

Face masks are required for students in Year 3 to Year 6, only when indoors on school premises, unless an exception applies.

Exceptions for all year levels include:

Students with a physical or mental disability are not required to wear a face mask where their disability means it would not be suitable.

There is some further clarification required around this directive but we have been informed that if this is directive is enforced then all parents will need to supply their child with a mask. The school will not be providing masks for children.

One of the main challenges that we are preparing for in the coming weeks is the possible behaviours exhibited by the children due to the social dislocation that they have experienced during the latest lockdown period. As a school staff, we have come up with a number of initiatives and fun ideas based on the concept of 'reconnection'.

As we all emerge from this latest lockdown, reconnecting with each other is going to be our biggest challenge. It will be natural for some of the children to not be overly enthusiastic about returning to on-site school. Whilst they may be initially excited to return to see their friends and teachers, they will also miss some of the home routines that they have become familiar with over the last 20 months. We urge all parents to support the school through this transitional phase. Some children may find it difficult to socialise, play fairly, know how to be a good friend, share with each other and accept that school rules are different from their rules at home. This will be a big adjustment for some children and their parents.

As a school, we want to make the learning fun and engaging to reconnect the children. However, the school staff will be enforcing the school rules. Previous lockdown experiences have shown that children (and their parents) can struggle with adhering to and accepting these school rules. The school has in place a whole-school positive school behaviour management plan that all children are aware of and know what constitutes acceptable behaviour and what is not acceptable. Our teachers have done an enormous amount of work with the children on this since the start of the year and they are all very familiar with these expectations. Teachers will be reinforcing this with the children on their return to school.

We will be asking for your support with this and understand that it may be difficult for some children to adapt quickly back to these routines and expectations. These rules are in place for the safety and protection of all in the school community.

As you would be aware, the school completes a daily school roll. This information is shared with the Victorian Government which mandates all schools to report extended school absenteeism which is followed up by the appropriate government authorities. We remind all parents that the Victorian Government Department of Education’s slogan ’Every day counts’ reiterates the importance of children’s attendance at school every day until the end of the school year.

Acceptable Use and Online Behaviours

One of the concerning issues for schools throughout Melbourne during the lastest lockdown period has been the emergence of some unacceptable online behaviour by children. It has been brought to our attention that there are some children who are not adhering to expected behaviours with their peers when interacting online.

You would be aware of the School’s ICT Acceptable Use Agreement that all children and parents signed at the beginning of the year. This agreement clearly stipulates our expectations regarding acceptable and unacceptable behaviours for the children when online and learning from home.

As a school, while the children are working remotely, it is extremely difficult for us to monitor the children’s regular online behaviour and to provide the necessary support unless we have parent help. We ask for your support by being diligent and proactive with your children. This includes sitting down with your children and having a discussion about acceptable online behaviour and use, checking that their online behaviour meets the standards set out in our ICT Acceptable Use Agreement and discussing that a failure to comply with these expectations has serious consequences that could potentially impact their ability to access online learning.

Some of the issues that we would like all parents to discuss with their children include:

What is a ‘digital footprint’?
Posting images, photos or comments online that can be traced or without another person’s permission
Exclusion - intentionally excluding other children from chat groups and conversations
Messaging inappropriate comments about another child or their family members

If you or your child has experienced any of these issues then we strongly encourage you to contact and inform your child’s teacher of these concerns. We would appreciate if you could include any screenshots of texts, messages or images that you believe are unacceptable. The school will then follow up with the offending children, their parents and the appropriate authorities.

As an accredited eSmart school, we take these matters very seriously and have strict protocols and procedures in place to address these concerns to protect the safety and wellbeing of all children in our school community.

MACSSIS Surveys and Data

Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools School Improvement Surveys (MACSSIS), formerly known as CEMSIS, are conducted annually for schools in the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne with Teachers, Students and Parents.

Our parent community’s opinions and feedback are critical to understanding how our school is performing. MACSSIS is a key data source for guiding the ongoing work to improve our school.

MACSSIS is a set of surveys that have been built specifically for Catholic schools in Melbourne by the Learning Services team at MACS, in partnership with researchers at Learning First and in wide consultation with principals in our schools. The MACSSIS survey platform is operated by an independent supplier, ORIMA Research Pty Ltd. The platform meets with the high security and privacy standards for handling student and school data.

Last year, the MACSSIS was cancelled due to the disruption caused by the Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions. However this year, students, families and staff are invited to participate in MACSSIS via a secure and purpose-built online platform.

The online platform is where the school leadership team will access the summary reports that visualise the results of the student, family and staff surveys. This will be extremely beneficial for our school as it will provide timely information, feedback and data for our upcoming 2022 School Review.

This invaluable feedback details our progress as an effective school community and is backed by evidence-based research and best practice.

Families will be randomly selected to participate in this survey and we ask that all selected families complete the survey by Thursday 28th October. MACS will email all selected families an introductory letter which will include an individual link and password to access the survey. Surveys can be completed across a range of mobile devices and different web browsers.

Participation is strongly encouraged, welcomed and 100 per cent voluntary. The surveys are not a test; they are an inclusive way to support the work that we are already doing to improve our school and to provide feedback on whole school improvement.

If you would like more information, please do not hesitate to email principal@srprestonwest.catholic.edu.au

Thank you in advance for your participation and completion of the survey.

School Uniform

We are aware that some children may have outgrown their school summer uniform and that there hasn’t been an opportunity to access the school’s Uniform Shop. The Uniform Shop is staffed by volunteer parents and we have been instructed by the authorities that they are unable to be on-site at the moment.

We will notify all parents when this service will become available again and we may have to put in place an order system where uniforms are delivered via your child’s tub.

At this stage, we are focused on getting the children back to school and into routines and are not too concerned about the uniform that the children will be wearing. However, we do pride ourselves on our school uniform and we will expect all children to be wearing the correct uniform on the correct days before the end of the year. We will keep you updated in the coming weeks on how you can order school uniforms.

A reminder to please ensure that all children have a hat to wear outdoors and their own water bottles which they will be able to refill at the water taps. For health and safety reasons all school bubbler taps will not be used.

School Review

We are pleased to inform you that our quadrennial school review will take place in late March 2022. This important review analyses all aspects of the school from OH&S requirements, procedures, policies, curriculum compliance, community engagement, learning and teaching, leadership and management, religious education and student wellbeing.

Our previous school review in 2018 provided us with a clear blueprint and road map for the next four years. Following the 2018 school review, we created a School Improvement Framework (SIF). At the time we didn’t foresee that a pandemic would emerge throughout the world!

However, we have managed to work with our staff on delivering the goals that were set back in 2018. This has been enabled through weekly after-hours professional development with staff and the creation of ‘Action Teams’ who are responsible for curriculum development in key learning areas across the school. All staff are assigned two specific areas of whole school improvement and work together to achieve the goals as set out in our SIF and yearly Annual Action Plan (AAP). Each action team works on short and long term goals as recommended from the last school review to look at all areas of the curriculum and the ways that we can enhance the learning for the children.

It has been an extremely successful process, particularly this year, and has been achieved by the professionalism, dedication and commitment of the staff, even whilst meeting and working remotely online.

We are keen to analyse how we have progressed through such a difficult time and to set a vision for what we wish to achieve as a whole school community over the next four years. We will be required to produce evidence to support our school review and the independent, externally appointed reviewer, Judi Hanke will guide us all through this process in late March next year.

Judi has worked in education as a principal, regional principal consultant, Assistant Regional Director and Acting Executive Director for the Department of Education in Victoria for over 35 years before retiring and becoming a consultant.

The school review process is extensive and exhaustive and requires an enormous amount of time to plan and prepare. The school staff have already embarked on this process during the recent whole school closure day and during our after-hours professional learning meetings.

School Fees

A reminder that all outstanding 2021 school fees are now overdue and must be reconciled as soon as possible.

As you would be aware, school fees are necessary for Catholic schools to ensure that we provide the best possible resources, equipment and facilities for your children. As for any business with outstanding invoices, fees are required to be paid on time so that that the school can budget appropriately and meet its financial commitments. As a term of your child’s enrolment in the school, all parents sign and agree to pay the school fees by the required date.

Failure to comply with this condition of enrolment may result in the termination of your children’s enrolment in the school.

If you are currently experiencing financial difficulty and require support with this matter then please email principal@srprestonwest.catholic.edu.au to arrange a mutually convenient time to discuss alternative repayment options and ways that the school can provide support.

Staffing News

It is with great sadness that we announce the resignation of Ms Bella Sullivan Barry and Ms Emily Jamieson at the end of the 2021 school year.

Bella has come to our school as a graduate teacher and has worked in Year 1/2 this year. Bella has been a wonderful acquisition to our school community. Bella is moving down to the Mornington Peninsula and has accepted a position at Banyan Fields Primary School in Carrum Downs. We wish Bella every success in the future.

Emily has also come to our school as a graduate teacher in this tumultuous school year after a long and distinguished career as a social worker in Australia and overseas. Emily has been the Year 5/6J homeroom teacher and has also been a wonderful acquisition to our school and we wish her every success in the future.

We will be advertising and interviewing both teaching positions in the coming days.